Ductless Mini-split Replaces Central HVAC System

Posted
March 25, 2016

No room for ductwork? Maybe it’s time to rethink your heating and cooling system and replace it with ductless!

That’s what our heating and air conditioning client did in Leesburg. Our ductless installation team returned to the Leesburg home (mentioned in the prior blog post) and installed the remaining wall mounted interior units and prepared the old central heating and air conditioning system to be removed.

This whole home mini-split (heat pump) heating and cooling installation is another ductless job that stood out—simply because the client weighed the pros and cons and made the decision not to fix, or replace, the existing home’s heating and air conditioning system. Another client in an Alexandria townhouse replaced their central system with a Mitsubishi Electric ductless system too. M.E. Flow installs many ductless mini-split systems all over Northern Virginia and it’s typically to fix a hot upstairs, cool and heat a sunroom, garage, or a bonus room. It’s not often but we are seeing more whole home installs. The client replaces the presumed traditional methods of heating and cooling a home to a whole home ductless system. Once this Leesburg job was complete, the client provided some insight on his decision to go ductless. Here is what was shared:

What made you choose a ductless heating and cooling system?

What I’ve really liked about these systems is how they’re modular, take up less space, and can hide the lines within the walls. Although setting different temps is an added plus to me, I really like how I only need to heat/cool the spaces I’m actually using and not waste energy in other rooms. And if a head unit were to go down, I would not lose the whole system. Another consideration since we have dogs is that cleaning the head units is a lot easier/more sanitary than trying to clean out all the ducting. So, when we started looking at upgrading the home, we were looking for the possibility of a ductless mini-split.

What made you choose the Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating system?

Mitsubishi was the first brand we read up on. However, we did look at others such as LG, Daikin, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Samsung. We saw that Carrier had recent mini-split lines but these seemed less developed. As for the Japanese and Korean brands, these seemed much more mature but had limited distribution. Mitsubishi seemed to offer a balance of price, technological options and availability, as well as a longer track record in the US and we were considering things such as parts availability and support 10 years from now. It also appeared to be the only system (Hi Heat) really meant for the Virginia region’s climate. I don’t think many brands even offer a system that the heat pump operates close to 0 Deg F; Toshibas’ only advertised to -4 Deg F same as LG but last winter and this winter it’s certainly gotten that cold. Even if it’s only one day, I don’t want the system to fail on the coldest day of the year.

Great information indeed!Imagine never having to clean your ductwork and having the freedom to manage the temperatures in each individual room.

The air conditioning season will be here soon and if your AC unit is in need of replacing maybe it’s time to investigate new heating and cooling technologies. Give M.E. Flow a call, or fill out the form on this page and schedule an in-home consultation with one of our professional Mitsubishi Electric trained Home Comfort Advisors. Thanks for reading!

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